Feeling
by ellikanellika
Summary: The villains attack. Layla saves Warren. Warren saves the people. They both end up in the hospital near the death and with a feeling of something strong.


Feeling

His steps were heavy, slow and shaky. He breathed very fast and loud, his heart racing. Around him, it was dark. Screams, shouting, crying, shooting, energy balls hitting – he did not hear any of it.

''No...''

He slowly made his way to the lying girl few feet away from him. His eyes were big and dark, looking at her, watching her – her body.

''Please no...''

Her read hair was spread around her head, making her face look paler than it really was. Her eyes were closed and she did not move. Her arms and legs were lying dead. It looked like her heart stopped beating – there was not up and down of her chest; and if she breathed, he did not hear it. She was so beautiful, so fragile and gentle. She was like a faery, red hair, pale face and a green dress that was now torn here and there and showed most of her legs. She seemed so perfect.

He was standing now next to her, afraid of touching her. He snapped, he crouched down and grabbed her upper body, holding it in a tight hug. He hid his face in her shoulders and her hair fell on him. She did not open her eyes, her head just hanging there. He whispered her name, calling her, telling her to wake up.

But she did not.

His body became warm, he knew that the fire in him started to glow, started to scream – wanting out.

He gently pulled away from her, looking at her face. It seemed as if she was sleeping – and hopefully she was, he did not know, because he was too afraid to check her pulse. With one hand her brushed a hair from her face, putting it behind her ear. She was so beautiful. His eyes became soft, tears forming in them, but then his look became desperate, hurt, and angry.

He kissed her forehead pulled away. Then he kissed her cheek and looked at her. Finally he kissed her lips, his own lips lingering there longer than he intended to. He hugged her one more time, whispered her name again and told her what he did not tell to anyone till now, not even her, when she was...awake.

''I love you.'' He hugged her stronger, stroking her cheek and kissing her ear. ''I love you so much.'' He caressed her head, kissing her one more time.

Then he gently put her down, got up and went away. He had a direction and his anger grew bigger by each step he made. Fire was already surrounding his arms and then his whole body.

The heroes looked at him in desperation, giving him the sign to help them.

He did not look at them.

He did not even see them.

There was only one thing, he saw.

And that was her smiling face in his head, her laugh and now her weak and sleeping body.

He knew what he has to do.

''Warren!'' screamed Will, catching up with him. He was hurt here and there and out of breath, but he was all right. He dodged some shots, send a few villains in the air, but still managed to come to Warren.

''Where's Layla?'' he asked, looking around, but not seeing her. He did not know that he had to look down the floor. He did not know, she was lying there.

Warren did not say a thing for a moment, but then: ''Create a shield around everyone.''

''What?''

''Do as I say.''

The boys looked at each other and finally Will understood. He did what he was told.

And then – a loud scream and Warren exploded with fire.

...

When Layla woke up, she was in bed. Actually, she was in the hospital bed, her room white and small, and there were several doctors around her, taking care of her. She blinked.

''What the hell?''

''Oh, you woke up.'' Said one of the doctors.

Layla just nodded, waiting for an explanation. Her head hurt, and she could barely feel her legs or hands. She felt awful.

''I assume, you remember, what was going on a couple of days ago.'' The old man said, watching her expression change, as she was thinking.

She did remember.

The villains attacked them. Again. But there were too many of them this time. They came suddenly and no one expected them. Not here. And the building was destroyed, people were running and fighting. There was Will her friend, flying around, trying to help. And there was Warren. Her friend. Burning and fighting the bad guys. There was someone behind him and wanted to attack him. But she was faster. She did not allow it. She ran and created a plant, making the bad guy stop. But then he directed the attack to her.

Layla fell out of her thoughts as the doctor measured her heart beating on her left wrist.

''Where are the others?''

The doctor looked at her and without blinking told her: ''In other rooms.'' Then he checked her eyes and her muscle reaction, ignoring her angry look.

Layla felt tired and hurt. Her body hurt and her emotions were playing crazy. She felt lost and confused, because she had a feeling something happened and the doctor did not tell her what.

''Tell me...'' she whispered shakily, slowly drifting back to sleep as the pain killers and the sleeping pill made their way into her blood. Her eyes became heavy and she blinked a couple of times, losing the train of thoughts and finally lost herself in the darkness of the unconsciousness.

''O my god...'' she whispered and put her hand over her mouth. She could not hold the tears and the enormous feeling in her chest that threatened to burst out and rip her body to peaces, prevented her to breathe slowly. The air went through her lungs fast and unevenly, her heart beated fast and furiously and if she were not be thinking about other things, she would be asking herself if others could hear the beating.

Sweat made its way down her front head, but she did not care. She tried to calm herself down by putting her other hand over her chest and squeezing her pyjama T-Shirt.

She was sitting on the bed with her back on the bed back.

It was in the middle of the night, when she woke up and the moon was shining brightly through her open window. The curtains danced gently in the soft breeze and the feeling that came with it would be calming and content – if her mind registered it, of course. But it did not. It was somewhere else. Her thoughts were screaming in her head and she thought she might die this instant.

The dream.

No – the memory.

She knew what happened. She heard it all.

She might have been unconscious, but the flowers around her were not. They were wide awake and all ears. And all information came straight into her mind, when her brain started to work again.

She heard with all the senses that flowers have what the doctors were talking about, while she was asleep.

''I must say I'm impressed.'' the doctor said to the nurse, while watching the sleeping Layla through the glass window that surrounded her room. She did not hear anything, but the plants all over the room have.

''Stronghold created a good barrier around everyone. The First-Help almost could not go through it, when it was over.'' the old man scratched his head.

''Yes, but eventually we could bring all these people to the hospital. We should be glad that it went good.'' continued the nurse, also staring through the glass window.

''But the girl here got quite an impact.'' the doctor mentioned.

''Well, she was hit straight in her front body. I am actually surprised that she made it alive.'' the woman said and lifted her hand to the glass window and put it over it.

''Me too. But I think that without this particular incident, Peace would not have ended it all. We could count ourselves lucky we had him there. The explosion he created defeated the 'black-ones' all. Without him, there would have been hundreds of innocent victims.'' the man paused for a moment and looked at the nurse. ''He is a hero – he went against all the bad expectations people had about him and rescued us all. He deserves to be worshiped.''

The nurse looked at him and her concerned expression made it clear that the matter is much serious: ''Yes, but the state he is currently in is nothing what should be worshiped. I can't believe Stronghold could not create a barrier around him.''

''Well, of course he couldn't. If he would, Peace would have exploded inside his body – the barrier would prevent his powers to come out. So he had to be free of it – but that had its consequences.''

They both looked at each other for a moment, but then turned their attention to the sleeping girl who obliviously lied there in her bed not knowing that the life she desperately tried to safe by sacrificing herself, was almost at the edge.

But now she knew...

All the spoken information were saved in the flower scent. After the conversation, there were a couple of others that were more detailed and even uglier: Will made it with just some scratches; Magenta had some broken bones; Zack was still unconscious, but ok; Ethan had problems with standing; her other friends were in similar states – but... Warren... Warren was still in a critical state. His life had almost zero chances. He was the one who created the fire explosion, which defeated the attacking villains. He was the one who saved them all.

Layla sniffed and wiped the tears away that were already falling down her cheeks.

Flowers told her what other people were saying. But it was her body that remembered one specific moment.

The moment in which her friend hugged her and called her. The moment in which he told her something she hoped to hear from him someday, when he would be ready.

''I love you...'' were his hushed words. ''I love you so much...'' was the desperation, created by the fear of her death, which never happened.

And now...

It was her who felt it. The horror of losing someone. Someone beloved; a friend; an almost lover.

She cried out, tears pouring down and her not able to do something against the pain.

She cried desperately like a small child lost in the wide world. She was hiding her face in her hands, trying to keep it down and the force of her emotions was so strong that the flowers around her bloomed fully and eventually faded.

''No...'' she whispered and threw her blanked down. Lucky for her, she was not depending on machines anymore. They removed them few days ago, because her state improved very fast.

She slowly put her feet on the floor and tried to stand up.

She fell down immediately. She was still too weak.

But she did not give up. With the help of her hands, she leaned her body on her bed and stood up. Her legs were shaking and her body felt sick as she steadied herself. She made a couple of steps and reached the door of the room.

Her breathing was fast, as if she ran a marathon, but that did not stop her. She leaned on the doorknob for a couple of moments and tried to think rationally.

She opened the door and made her way down the hall. The whole time she was leaning against the wall for support, because she was not strong enough.

She knew where he was. In which room. The flowers told her. It was just a few doors away.

She stopped a couple of times to take a break and to sit down on the floor. But then she was on her feet again, slowly reaching her goal. There was the door. His room was also of glass, so that the doctors could watch him without going into the room.

She looked through the glass; it was dark, but she could see him clearly.

Attached to god knows how many machines, there he was. Warren.

His face was pail and he had a mask over his mouth that pumped air into his lungs. The machines next to him were piping slowly, showing a clear picture of his dying heart.

But he looked like he was just sleeping.

He was so fragile.

Layla could have screamed right then and there, but she only reached for the doorknob and opened the door. She made her way to the bed and sat on the chair next it. She took his hand and squeezed it as much as she could, but it actually felt like nothing, because she was that weak.

Her eyes were watching him.

''Warren...'' she whispered. ''I love you.'' she breathed out and lost consciousness.

''You silly girl. Torturing your body that much, just as it was healing. Layla, I mean it. Don't play with fire.'' Magenta was crocheting a scarf while scolding her friend. She did not need to look up at her to know that the redhead was not listening to her at all.

Magenta was sitting in her wheelchair, because she still could not move her broken bones – but that did not mean she was less dangerous.

''Layla!'' the called girl finally looked at her confused: ''Hm...?''

Magenta sighed and put down the almost-scarf: ''You were in coma for a few days, after the explosion. You were sleeping for a week, after you woke up for the first time. And now, when finally your body starts to heal, you go out in the middle of the night just to pay Warren a visit? He won't wake up just because you stand next to his bed, Layla! We found you lying on the floor! I almost had a heart attack, when they told me!'' the black-haired girl shouted, letting the anger get the best of her.

But Layla seemed lost in her own world. She was looking at Magenta, but not really seeing her. She was sitting on her bed her back on the backboard, slurping her glass of water.

Magenta waved in front of her face and got her attention: ''You are my best friend, Lalya. I don't want to lose you. I got Will from your back, when he didn't stop asking you if you were alright – so you owe me. Focus. Warren will make it. He is strong enough. If not for that, Zack's voice will bring him to life – he is still singing like an idiot in his room, because he's so bored. Gosh, thank god I could escape before my ears exploded.''

Layla finally came to herself and laughed. Magenta was taken aback a bit, but smiled afterward. ''I can imagine him singing.'' the redhead said and laughed even harder.

''I just hope you won't experience it.'' Magenta picked up her scarf again and took the glass of water from Layla's hands. ''Alright girl. I'll come back in a minute. I'll just put this away and go to the toilet.'' she smiled at Layla again and rolled out of the room.

Layla watched her disappear and hummed a soft melody to herself: ''Voice heh...'' She took a flower from her window next her bed and brought it in front of her lips. She gently kissed the blossom and whispered: ''Warren... Wake up... I want you to wake up...''

She kissed the flower again and closed her eyes. Then she softly blew into the blossom and enjoyed the aromatic scent that danced in the air around her.

Little did she know that this scent made its way through the whole hospital and into a particular room in which a young black-haired man still fought for his life. He breathed in the sweet scent and took in all her spoken words.

The words echoed through his head like the sound of a bell and finally screamed into his mind that he really should do what she wished for.

After a couple of days, he opened his eyes.

''You bloody idiot! What the hell were you thinking? You could have died!'' she screamed his head off, while looking him right in the eyes.

No, it is not Layla who screamed. She is still too weak for that. And in the moment a bit too emotional to be able to even stop crying.

Magenta was pulling her hair out, while furiously trying to prevent herself from killing him.

''Warren Peace! You are as mad as Layla! What's wrong with you people? Just as you wake up and finally get some strength after some days, you sneak out of your room half dead just to drop by and see how Layla is doing? Are you two tweens?''

The finally healed pair looked at each other – Warren from his bed, still attached to some machines; and Layla from her chair next to the bed – and smiled.

''I'm still alive Magenta.'' he said with a low voice, but shut up immediately, because if looks could kill, Magenta would be charged with murder.

Then she just shook her head and sighed in despair: ''I give up. You two are impossible. You can consider yourself lucky that no one told Will about your little walk in the middle of the night. He might have cried in front of you.''

Layla was silent throughout the whole 'conversation', just watching the two. She did not really know what she felt – she was happy, relieved and something more. She could not define it, but it was a very strong emotion that prevented her to talk.

''I'm going now... I'm tired. Just talk the whole day and leave us sleep during the night for god's sake. If I hear from the nurses again that one of you sneaked out, I swear I'm calling Zack here and he will be pleased to sing you song for goodnight.'' she threw them a creepy and evil smile and rolled out of the room.

After a couple of minutes of silence, Warren spoke up: ''That was scary...''

Layla nodded her head and laughed: ''Yeah, but that was nothing comparing the speech she gave me some weeks ago.''

''You really did the same thing?'' he asked a bit surprised.

''Well yeah... I was worried.'' she blushed a bit and looked around the room.

He laughed but had to stop soon, because it hurt a bit. He smirked at her, when she finally looked at him, a bit concerned.

''You know, I heard you.'' he told her and grinned.

Layla blushed furiously and coughed in embarrassment.

She looked at him through her lashes and smiled softly: ''I heard you too, you know.''

He was not embarrassed; at least he seemed like that. He threw her a gentle smile and looked at her with almost serious eyes: ''I wasn't a secret. Everyone knew it. You knew it.''

She played with her hair: ''I didn't exactly know... You're my best friend next to Will. So, I was more hoping than knowing.''

''Yeah, I was hoping too.'' he told her, his face flushed a bit.

Layla watched him and could not stop herself anymore: ''You've become more than a friend to me, you know? I liked you before, but after all this – I really might love you. It was horrible to watch you dying, so please, as much as I love your flames, try to keep it gentle.''

Her speech spread a warm feeling in his body and he thought he might die from happiness right now.

''I was worse seeing you almost dead on the floor, you know? And my flames are cool.'' he told her, looking her straight in the eyes.

They watched each other and the emotional tension between them was thick as god knows what.

''You are mine from now on.''

She smiled at his statement: ''I'm not a property.''

''I don't care.'' he reached for her hand and pulled her closer. Layla just closed her eyes and let him kiss her. Their lips connected and their tongues collided – not roughly, but slowly and gently. ''You're mine...'' he whispered as she gasped for air and then continued to kiss her.


End file.
